10 Fun Facts you didn’t know about Christmas!
Do you wish for a white Christmas along with other Christmas gifts? There’s more to Christmas than these. Read on to find out!
- It was the Germans who made the first artificial Christmas tree out of the dyed feathers of a goose.
- Christmas carols- ‘Silent Night’ was first sung in Austria as part of a church service. Since the church organ was badly rusted and could not be used for playing, a guitar was used instead.
- Christmas holidays began in the US with Alabama first declaring it an official holiday, from 1836.
- Santa’s reindeer- there are nine reindeer and they have male names like Blitzen, Comet and Cupid. But in reality male reindeers shed their antlers around Christmas time. So basically Santa’s sleigh is pulled by female reindeers called castrati.
- Every year post offices across America and Canada are flooded with letters for Santa Claus. The Canadian Post office received so many letters that some postmen started answering them and as the demand increased, the postal service also set up a special zip code for Santa’s letters; which is H0 H0 H0!
- Christmas food- roast turkey is a must! The very first Christmas pudding was not a cake but a kind of soup with plenty of raisins and wine in it.
- Christmas colors- Red, green and gold are the traditional colors of Christmas. Green symbolizes life and rebirth, red- the blood of Christ and gold- light and wealth.
- Christmas stocking– In North America, children put stockings at night to receive Christmas gifts from Santa who is believed to throw them from the chimney, while the Dutch put shoes.
- Christmas decorations– Legend has it that a poor Ukranian woman woke up to find spider webs on her undecorated Christmas tree. In the morning sun’s light, they transformed to gold and silver.
- The Christmas card was first sent out in 1843. Christmas crackers were invented soon after, in 1846.